Unspoken Dreams
by lovexbeautifulxlife
Summary: Mike's dream about a voice stealing nighlock becomes a reality. The team has 48 hours to reclaim it or else it's gone forever. Will they save Mike's voice in time?
1. The Vivid Dream

Unspoken Dreams  
>Copyright 2011<p>

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><p>I own nothing, except for the plot. I'm just putting that out there.<p>

A/N: This is a dream sequence, hence the italics.

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><p><em>He was the only one standing. <em>

_As he looks at his surroundings, Mike can see a lot of things. Debris everywhere, dust and smoke in the air, and damaged cars. He was in the middle of a battle that he and the rest of the team has been fighting for the last half hour. Silence filled the air as he turned a 180 to see what other damage has been done, only to notice that the rest the rangers were nowhere to be found. Mike's fear grew as he was beginning to be aware that he was the only ranger around. He needed to look for the others. _

_As he was walking, the dust and smoke became thicker. He couldn't see where he was going and this frustrated him as each second went by. Mike became more worried by the moment. What if the others were dead or unconscious? Could they hear him if he called out to them? These thoughts scared him as his feet carried him through the rubble, even though they were sore and a little weak. _

_While continuing to find the others he bumped into something hard. Being that the dust and smoke was thick as it is, he couldn't see who was in front of him, but he knew that it wasn't any of his teammates. The object was big, well rounded and very hard, Mike was sure that he'll have a bruise on his forehead later on. _

"_Hey! Watch where you're going!" He exclaimed to the object as he was rubbing his head. _

_The object turned around to face him. It was a nighlock for sure; because when it turned around, all Mike saw was pure evil. It looked like the villain from "The Little Mermaid" but uglier. The mouth of the nighlock has a circle, like it's was about to sing or speak, it had a bag around its waist; it must be for storing something and that something wasn't good. To what Mike saw, the bag was full so it stole something. _

"_Well hello there, samurai ranger!" it said to him, spitting out his words sarcastically. The nighlock's voice sounded very raspy like it had a sore throat or losing his voice. "You have such a good voice." _

_Mike's eyes widened as he heard the word 'voice' as if he knew from that second that this nighlock has something to do with voices. He was nervous as the nighlock continued to speak. _

"_Your voice should not go unnoticed. Wait… maybe it should!" He said as he placed his hand near Mike's throat as a glow started to form. _

_As this was happening, Emily was waking up from her unconscious state only to see that there was a green glow between a nighlock's hand and Mike's throat. She was a few yards away from him, but still can witness what was going on. Her voice failed her as she was trying to call Mike's name, she can only watch in fear as she can see the glow coming from Mike's throat then transferring to the nighlock's hand, causing Mike to demorph and grow unconscious. _

_Tear welled up in Emily's eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She can only imagine how much pain he was in as Mike's voice was stolen as she silently touched her neck. Emily then saw the voice stealing nighlock place the green glow into the bag that was around its waist, laughing evilly as his voice became a little stronger than it was before._

"_I must say that his voice has made mine stronger. In 48 hours, his voice will be mine forever!" The nighlock said before leaving through the gap, but turning around to look at Emily for a moment. "You have two days to defeat me!" The nighlock finally left. _

_Emily demorphed and ran to Mike's side as he began to gain consciousness. "Mike, are you okay?" She asked him as he got up. _

_Mike tried to respond, but nothing came out. He grew fearful as he tried again to voice out that he was okay. Again, nothing came out, only his lips moved in its place. Both then noticed the green mark that was on Mike's throat where his vocal chords used to be. The mark was the same color as the glow when the nighlock stole his voice. Mike placed his hand on his throat as the others came around, only to notice the green mark as well. _

"_Mike's voice…. has been stolen…." Emily said, looking at the others with her wide eyes. _

Emily's voice echoed over and over in Mike's head as he shot up from his slumber. He was breathing frantically as sweat was dripping down his face. After a few moments of collecting his thoughts of what happened, he looked at his surroundings, only to conclude that he was having a bad dream. He was in his room, not surrounded by rubble and dust. It felt so real to him, the dream was very vivid. Mike felt pain on his head and his neck, smelled smoke, the dust in his eyes and felt the human touch.

The last thing he did before going back to sleep was going to the nearest mirror to make sure if he had that green mark on his throat. A sigh of relief that there was no green on his throat and there was sound coming from his throat as he sighed again.

"It was only a dream_." _He said as he crawled back to bed, only to fall asleep a few moments later.


	2. Keep it Inside or Not

Mike woke up a few hours later, unable to shake off his dream. He couldn't get over on how vivid it was; every sensation, smell, and all of the things he was sensing felt so real to him. He slowly got out of bed, walked to the bathroom and look in the mirror to make sure that there was nothing there, sighing again, there was no mark on his neck.

While he turned on the faucet to wash his face, he thought of another thing about his dream that was bothering him. It was Emily's reaction of what was going on when his voice was being stolen and how that was etched into his mind; her response to the nighlock stealing it, the green mark and his inability to speak. It pained him to see her react to that with such hurt and fear, even though it was a dream, it still bothered him. There might be a possibility that it might come true, but he didn't want to think about it. It bothered him too much, not because the dream was real, what happened to him and Emily's reaction, but this dream might be a one-time dream.

Mike knew that he needed to talk to Emily about it, having it bottled up would be a mistake if in case the dream does come true. He also thought that if he did tell someone about it, they would just say that it's just a dream and it wouldn't come true.

Choosing between telling her and not telling her was driving him crazy. He thought of the pros and cons back and forth while walking into the kitchen to get some breakfast. It was kind of early for anyone to be up only because it was 6:30 in the morning and everyone else was sleeping.

He grabbed a bowl, some cereal, spoon and some milk and prepared his breakfast. Once Mike prepared his cereal and placed the cereal box in the pantry and the milk back in the refrigerator, he took his breakfast and sat down on the table.

Thoughts of the dream were spinning in his mind as he tried to eat. He remembered the nighlock that he ran into, what it looked and sounded like. It sounded like pure evil indeed, the raspy voice made no difference to him. He remembers what it said to him and it echoed into his mind as the nighlock told him what he wanted.

_"You have such a good voice." _he remembers it saying. "_Your voice should not go unnoticed. Wait… maybe it should!" _

Mike then remembers the nighlock grasping his throat and feeling something being pulled from it. He also remembers seeing Emily watching in horror as this was happening while gently grasping her own. Tears were falling from her eyes as she saw Mike voice going into the bag.

While thinking about this, he only took a few mere bites from his cereal.

"_I must say that his voice has made mine stronger. In 48 hours, his voice will be mine forever!" The nighlock said, "You have two days to defeat me!" _

This echoed through his mind over and over, it has repeated itself so much that he didn't hear anyone walking into the kitchen.

"Feeling okay Mike?" The voice said, which made Mike jump out of his funk to see who it was.

"Yeah Antonio. I'm doing okay." Mike replied as he continued to playing with his cereal.

Antonio placed his breakfast and juice on the table, only to notice that Mike was playing with his breakfast, awake at this time, feeling down and not paying attention to who was talking to him. In another words, Mike wasn't acting like himself.

"Are you sure? You seem distant. You're playing with your food and you're normally sleeping in." Antonio noted to Mike.

Mike looked down at his cereal, which was getting soggy, it made his stomach turn. He sighed as he gently pushed his bowl to the side. "I had a weird dream last night."

"What kind of dream?" Antonio asked as he was taking a few bites of his toast.

Mike explained his dream to Antonio, in which he did in grave detail. He described what happened, who he ran into, the nighlock's raspy voice, to the pain he felt when his voice was taken away, and the green mark that it left on his throat.

"It felt so real, like I can feel everything. It was like I was really there, but it was a dream." Mike finished.

"More like a nightmare if a nighlock is in it and stealing your voice. I bet it was very scary for you." Antonio said.

"It was. But scariest thing was that while it was happening, I can see Emily witnessing everything. I can see her tears almost streaming from her eyes, gently grabbing her throat because her voice failed her when she tried to call me." Mike paused for a moment before continuing. "Hearing her say 'Mike's voice…. has been stolen…' to you guys and saying them with her wide eyes scared me the most."

Silence filled the room for a few moments, so Antonio can sink what Mike said in. He's heard of vivid dreams but nothing quite like this. The way Mike described everything, made Antonio feel like he was in it with him.

"The dream was so real that I had to check and see if there was a green mark on my throat and hear if I can speak. When I saw that there was no mark and I can still talk, I sighed in relief that yes it was only a dream." Mike finished up.

"If you think it was just a dream, then why are you so worried about it?" Antonio asked putting his cup a side looking at Mike with concern, "Do you think it'll happen in real life?"

"I'm trying not to think that it could," Mike sighed as he got up to put his bowl in the sink, "But I have a strange feeling that it will."

There was a moment of silence before either spoke again.

"Are you ready to tell the others?" Antonio asked.

"Not now. If it's only a dream, then it should be a big deal, right?" Mike sighed.

"If you're worried about it coming true, they have a right to know. Especially Emily."

Mike sighed. He knew that Antonio had a point. Not telling the others about his dream weather it would come true or not would be a mistake. Now that he is in a loving relationship with Emily and she was suffering in the dream as well, she needed to know as well. He loved her too much not to tell her.

"You're right." Mike said in internal defeat. "I'll tell Emily before I tell the others. She has the right to know about this and keeping this from her will only hurt her in the long run. I'll tell her after training."


	3. Deciding to Tell

Training was uneventful for Mike as he was trying to figure out what he was going to say to Emily and the team. The conversation that he had with Antonio earlier this morning was running through his mind, the part that was sticking in his mind was where he was doubting if it's just a one-time dream or not; but he still had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach.

All of these thoughts were distracting him from his training; it was either causing him to get hit and loose or just zone out altogether. Mike was hoping that the team wouldn't notice him being a little 'off' today, but when he felt a hand on his shoulder, it caused him to jump a little bit.

"Are you okay Mike? You seem distracted today." Emily said.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Mike replied as he turned around to face her, "I didn't a lot of sleep last night."

"Would you like to talk about it?" She asked.

"Maybe later." Mike replied as he brushed his hand in her hair.

"Okay. Just let me know if you want to talk about it. I'm here for you." Emily said as she gave her reassuring smile.

Mike smiled back as she gently turned away to continue training. As he was walking towards one of the benches, he thought about what just took place between them. He wanted to tell Emily right then and there, but now wasn't the time. Training was still going on and he didn't want to worry her right now, he wanted her to be focused and to be the best that she can be.

He sat down and took a deep breath as he looked on to his other teammates either sparring or practicing symbols. He was trying to figure out how he going to explain it to the rest of the team without them judging him or saying that he's making a big deal over nothing and tell him to move on with his life. Mike had to remember that it was his dream and dreaming about a nighlock stealing the one thing that a lot of people take for granted, the gift of voice, away from him was something that doesn't normally happen to a person unless it's serious.

It was a rarity that anyone would dream of something like that, but why Mike. Why did he have the dream and not the rest of the team and why was it bothering him? The more that he thought about the reason why it happened to him, the more confused he was.

Holding his head with his hands, Mike closed his eyes so he can be out of reality for a moment or two. The second he closed his eyes was the second that the dream flashed into his mind, especially the part where his voice was getting stolen, focusing on the transfer that was occurring. The green glow, the painful feel of his neck as his voice was leaving him and the cold hand of the nighlock that was taking it from him. Then it flashed to where Emily was watching it, focusing on the fear that was etched on her face, and then it focused on what the nighlock was saying to him as his voice grew stronger.

"_In 48 hours, his voice will be mine….. You have two days to defeat me."_ It said before disappearing into the gap.

The final flashback was when he tried to speak, but he couldn't. His lips were moving but his voice just wasn't there and how scared he and Emily were as she saw the green mark on his throat. Her voice echoed through his mind again as he saw her wide fearful eyes.

"Mike…" He could hear someone say…

He was so distracted that he couldn't focus on who was talking to him.

"Mike…. Are you okay?" The voice said again, along with the sound of snapping fingers, trying to get him out of his haze.

Mike shook his head and finally snapped out of his trance to see who it was that was speaking to him. He looked up, only to see that it was Antonio looking at him, along with Jayden. They were concerned for their teammate; it wasn't like him to act like this.

It took him a moment to respond to them, a few seconds later, he responded. "Yeah, I'm okay." His voice was dull as he was irritated by the others interrupting his thoughts.

Antonio knelt down to Mike's level to understand him a little more, "Is it something that we talked about this morning?" He asked.

"It's nothing! Don't worry about it!" Mike responded quickly and firmly as he stood up and walked up to Emily to see if he could pull her aside.

There was an awkward moment of silence as Jayden looked at Antonio, "What did you two talk about?" He asked, breaking that silence

Antonio took a deep breath and sighed, "I know what's bothering Mike but he'll has to tell you himself." He replied as the two looked onto Mike talking to Emily, "He wants to tell Emily first; somehow she's involved in what's bothering him."

Then the two saw Emily gently taking his hand and slowly walked off the training field. As this was happening, they saw Mia walking up to Emily asking what was going on. Emily only shrugged her shoulders and told her that Mike wanted to talk to her for a few minutes alone. When Emily and Mike were out of sight, Kevin and Mia walked up to Antonio and Jayden to see if they knew what was going on and see what was causing Mike's rather odd mood.

"Is everything okay with Mike?" Mia asked.

Jayden sighed, "I don't know, but there is something wrong with Mike." He replied.

"He did seem distracted today, and not the normal distraction that is expected from him." Kevin said.

There was a moment of silence. They were worried about their green ranger; Mike did act normal during training, he was also in a trance of some kind, and oddly enough, when he came out of his trance, he was irritated about it. It felt like nothing was adding up with Mike's behavior.

The three looked at Antonio, "Do you know what's bothering Mike?" Mia asked Antonio

"He and I spoke about it this morning. But I can't tell what we spoke about. It's up to him if he wants to talk to you guys about it or not."Antonio replied sadly as turned his head and looked at the door, "From what I can understand, it's not going to be good."


	4. Something Missing

Mike walked Emily to dojo. Both took a seat on the floor, across from one another. He wanted to make sure that they were alone when he told her. He didn't want the others to know about it just yet; just in case that yes it was just a dream, and to prevent any future embarrassment.

"What's going on?" Emily asked with curious, but caring eyes. "You seemed distracted and zoned out on us."

Mike took a few deep breaths before beginning talking. "I had a bad dream last night." He began.

Emily looked at him oddly and asked, "Just a dream? I don't think a normal dream would do something like heavily putting someone in a trance or worth worrying about."

"This isn't a normal dream, Em." He said. "It felt very real. I experienced pain; I could smell dust, and everything else out of the ordinary. The dream, it felt so vivid that it could almost happen in real life." Mike then took her hand and began to explain what his dream was about, in a lot of detail, leaving nothing out.

Emily couldn't help but to imagine what Mike's dream was, causing her to be distracted from what he was saying. She wanted to understand what was causing Mike to be distracted during training; her mind was focused on him.

A few moments later, Mike stopped talking and gave Emily time to let what he said sink in. Those moments felt like forever in his mind, which made him worry. He was afraid that she would say that it was just a dream and forget about it. He took a couple deep breaths and tried to relax as she smiled at him.

"Emily?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"So that's why you were distracted at training. I would be the same way if it happened to me." She replied, trying to find the right to say to him.

"Really?" Mike asked, smiling back at her

"Yeah." Emily replied. "Do you think that it'll come true?"

"I hope not. With dreams, you'll never know." He sighed. "And that's what's bothering me the most. I just feel that there is more to it than that."

Another moment silence fell between the two. This is something he hasn't even told Antonio yet; his gut feeling that there is more to the dream than just the nighlock stealing Mike's voice and leaving through the gap with it. Something was missing and he couldn't figure out what it was, the problem was, he couldn't figure out what.

"What do you mean by that?" Emily asked.

"There's something missing from this dream, but I just can't put my finger on it." Mike replied as he combed his fingers through his hair, "it's frustrating!"

Emily took one of Mike's hands hand held it in hers and just smiled at him. Her smile turned into a frown when the gap sensor went off. Both got up and ran into the common area to see that the others were there as well.

"There's a nighlock attack in the downtown area." Mentor Ji said as he was looking at the map.

"Let's go rangers!" Jayden exclaimed as he and the rest of the rangers ran out of the house to hunt the nighlock down.

-Unspoken Dreams-

Chaos stirred downtown as people were running frantically as a mysterious being was walking towards them. As the team got there, they also saw some of the nighlock's victims were on the ground. There were marks on their throats and were rendered helpless as they couldn't speak, but Mike couldn't see that. He was more focused on the nighlock that was making the downtown to be nothing but a pile of rubble.

As he took a look at the nighlock that was in front of him, he concluded that this was the exact same nighlock that has been in his nightmare last night. It was the way it looked, the way he sounded, the bag that was around his waist that was frightening him. The team, including Emily, was too distracted to notice that he was freaking out in the inside. She was focused on trying to prevent the rest of Mike's dream from happening.

Mike tried to keep his focus on fighting the nighlock and try to evacuate the rest of the citizens before their voices got stolen; trying to stay calm so he doesn't make the situation worse. He then saw that his team was landing on the ground one by one as they tried to fight this voice stealer off with no avail, blacking out in the process.

There was rubble everywhere and the dust was very thick, making things harder to find and making the air harder to breathe. This was all too real for Mike as he was realizing that most of his dream was coming true and it was freaking him out more than ever. As he was surveying the ground, he was also thinking back to what happened to his dream as well, it was the same situation. All of his teammates were no longer in sight and he couldn't see a thing. He picked up his sword and began to walk around the rubble.

_This can't be happening! Everything in my dream is real!_ Mike thought as he was trying to see through the thick dust.

He is now worried that his team was dead or unconscious because he couldn't locate them. As he was looking for his teammates, he hit something hard. Mike's heart was racing a million miles a minute. He didn't want to see what he ran into.

"Hey watch where you're going!" Mike said, raising his voice at the person who bumped into him.

When the figure turned around, Mike was face to face with the exact nighlock that has been haunting his dream. Being scared shitless was out of the question, he was petrified; not only because he was face to face with the voice stealer, it was the fact that he was scared of what was going to happen next.

"Well hello there green samurai ranger!" The nighlock said, sarcastically. His voice sounded the same as Mike's dream.

Through Mike's helmet, his eyes were as wide as they can go; his breath was becoming shallow as he predicted in his mind what was going to happen next. Before he could figure that in his mind, the nighlock started to go after Mike, the green glow started to form at his throat. Mike felt helpless as he was paralyzed with fear.

As the dust started to clear, Emily was waking from unconsciousness. As the drowsiness cleared, she can see what was happening in front of her, even though she was fifty yards from what the situation was, she could see it clearly. Her eyes widened in fear, the nighlock was stealing Mike's voice, the same nighlock that he was talking about. Emily's voice failed her as she was trying to stop the transition from happening. She wanted to prevent his dream from happening while trying to destroy the nighlock, but it didn't. She felt like she failed him and everything is happening the exact same way as what Mike told her this morning.

The next thing she saw was that Mike falling to the ground unconscious, demorphing him in the process. The nighlock laugh as evil as it can be as his voice grew stronger, all while putting Mike's voice in the bag.

"I must say that his voice has made mine stronger. In 48 hours, his voice will be mine forever!" The nighlock said before leaving through the gap, but turning around to look at Emily for a moment. "You have two days to defeat me!" The nighlock finally left.

Emily quickly rushed to Mike, only to see that there was a green mark on his neck, where his voice box used to be. When the nighlock disappeared, Mike woke up from being unconscious as the rest of the team ran up to him and Emily.

"Are you okay Mike?" Emily asked.

Mike opened his mouth as he tried to speak. Nothing came out of his mouth, his nightmare had come true. The nighlock stole his voice and in two day, if not defeated, it would be his. He tried to talk again, but nothing happened. Emily and Antonio looked at each other then back at Mike. Antonio was speechless for words as Emily looked at Mike.

"Your nightmare…." Emily started to speak… "came true."

The team looked at Emily and Mike confused, not knowing what they were talking about. Mike didn't tell the rest of them about it; Antonio wanted him to tell Emily first. He was planning to tell the rest of the team before the gap sensor went off.

"Is everything okay?" Jayden asked. "What happened to Mike?"

Emily shook her head, "Mike's voice…" she paused before speaking again, "…has been stolen."


	5. Worst Fears Confirmed

_A/N: Sorry it took forever for this story to be updated. I had a lot going on in my life that got hectic. But now here's the next chapter. _

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><p>Silence.<p>

There was nothing but pure silence as Mike was being examined by mentor. No one has spoken a word to him with what had happened during battle, not even Emily. She knew what happened, but doesn't talk about it as she is in shock.

Everything in his dream came true; from what he told her and from what she saw. It scared her beyond comprehension, it wasn't something that she could just shrug off and say to him that yes, it was just a dream. But since it was a reality, Emily wasn't sure how to react to it.

Mike on the other hand, had no choice but to be silent. With his voice taken from the nighlock; there was not a lot he could do as to how he could communicate with his friends. A lot of thoughts came into his mind in a short amount of time, that he had no way of absorbing it all. All he knew that his gut feeling about his dream coming true was right. Antonio knew about the dream and so did Emily and now, he now knows that it was about time that he had to tell the others.

How he would tell them, he didn't know.

After looking at Mike and looking through the archives, Mentor came to an answer to what happened to Mike. Everyone looked up at him as he walked in.

"The nighlock you encountered is a voice stealer. He steals voices to make his stronger, as he takes them, it leaves a mark on the throat. According to sources, he only stole a few, including Mike's." Mentor concluded.

"He also said that after two days, his voices will be his." Antonio added.

Emily looked at Mike, feeling helpless. Knowing that Mike was feeling more than helpless, she didn't know what he was thinking, nor how he was taking everything in. He looked and pretty much taking it okay, but she didn't know what was going through his mind.

All Mike could do to reassure her that he was okay was to look her in the eyes and smile, but deep down both of them knew that he wasn't. The nighlock took something that many people took for granted and couldn't express how he felt or anything. This frustrated him to the core.

Then his eyes darted to his desk and saw a dry erase pad and a few markers, he went up to get them. This was the only way he could communicate with the others until his voice was returned. As Mike was writing something down on his pad, the others was just looked at him with curiosity.

"Is everything okay, Mike?" Mia asked.

Mike was only focused on what he was writing down, he blocked everything and everyone out. He showed the team what he wrote down.

"_I'm okay at the moment. It's about time that I told you what happened." _

"What happened?" Kevin asked.

Mike erased what he previously said and started to write more. Again, the teams' curiosity got to the best of them as he was writing away.

"_You're not going to believe this, but I had a dream about it."_

"A dream?" Jayden asked him.

Mike only nodded, and then turned to Emily, silently giving her permission to tell everyone else what was going on. She held his hand then turned to the rest of the team.

"Mike had a dream about the nighlock stealing his voice. Every bit of his dream came true, from running into the nighlock, to the exact way he stole Mike's voice. He kept it to himself, not knowing if it was just what it was, a dream. Mike had this feeling that this dream was going to come true, but sure how to tell you guys. He told Antonio, and then he told me. He was about to tell you guys but the gap sensor went off. The last thing that the nighlock said was that we only have 48 hours to get it back or else it would be his." Emily explained.

There were a few moments of silence so that everyone could take what Emily said sink in. It was a lot of information that no one else knew about. Mike felt awful about not telling the others before the attack, and now they had to know about it this way, made him feel a little worse.

"Now that we know what's going on, we just got to figure out how get it back before it's gone forever." Jayden said.

"That's the problem." Emily said. "Mike also said that there's something missing. He just can't put his finger on it."

Antonio sighed, "I guess it's something that we need to figure out."

"And fast, we have less than two days to figure this out. And if Mike has another dream that has something to do with solving this problem, we're on our own." Kevin concluded.

Mike wrote something down on his pad. Emily looked on, trying to figure out what he was trying to say. When she read it, she turned to the others.

"I hope so too, Mike." Emily said as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him close to her. Their heads leaning towards one another and she closed her eyes.

The team looked at this as their time to leave the two alone. One by one, they filed out silently; knowing that the two need to take everything in as well as for Mike to rest up.

When everyone left, Emily looked at Mike's neck and suddenly felt anger surging through her. She also felt worry, helplessness, and hopelessness go through her body as well. Mike shouldn't be going through this; he shouldn't have had this dream, nor he shouldn't have had his voice taken away, but it did. Now she was worried that she'll never hear his voice again if they couldn't defeat this nighlock, she wouldn't be able to hear him tell her how he felt about her, or just simply saying hi to her.

But she had to be brave for Mike. Emily knew that if he were to speak, he would tell her that. There had to be a way to get Mike's voice back. The problem was that they had to figure it out fast.

While she was absent minded, Mike's eyes felt heavy as he fell asleep. When she noticed that, he became heavy on her shoulder. So she laid him down on the bed, placed a blanket on his body and kissed his forehead. As she was about to walk out, she turned back to the dry erase pad and read what he last wrote.

"_I hope that this ends soon. I miss my voice." _It read.

Emily put his board down on his desk and turned to Mike's sleeping form.

"I hope so, Mike. I hope so." Was all she said before she left the room, closing the door behind her.


	6. Aftermath

Turtle necks weren't his style.

But for now, it was the only way for Mike to hide the green mark on his throat. He wanted to rip the shirt off, to put on a short sleeve shirt on. Even though everyone on the team has seen this mark, he didn't need to be reminded of it and the fact that he had no way of talking. The only thing that was keeping him sane from not communicating was the dry erase board, markers and hoping that everyone can read his writing.

He grabbed his board and marker and ventured out of his room; quietly praying that no one else was up. Mike wanted to grab the book of archives and look up the nighlock that took his voice. His gut instinct is still telling him that there is something that he is missing. He thought that if there was a way that his voice can be returned to him, he can find it there.

Before went to get the book, Mike walked to Emily's room to check up on her. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. She was strong for him last night and tried to show no emotion in front of him. Opening the door and slowly walking inside, he glanced at her sleeping form.

He had to admit, she looked beautiful asleep; this made him smile. He looked closer until he was near her bed, only to see that her pillows were soaked. Emily had cried herself to sleep; her cheeks were stained with tears and under her eyes were a little red. Mike placed his board and markers on the floor and gently stroked her hair, then kissing her forehead. Emily cares for him deeply and being brave for him wasn't easy, hiding her emotions takes a lot of her, especially for people and situations that mattered. He was proud of her, and he wanted to tell her that. But that too, changed his emotions in ways that confused him.

After a few moments of thinking, he picked up his dry erase board and markers and left the room. He wanted to leave her room before she woke up.

After Mike closed the door to Emily's room, he turned around and walked to the common area to sit down on the couch, his mission forgotten. After what happened last night and to see that Emily cried herself to sleep, he a lot to think about.

Mike's emotions took a nosedive; he was now scared that if the nighlock wasn't coming back from the netherworld, he would have no voice again. He didn't want that, he wanted to speak again, to finally tell Emily that he loved her more than anything, to thank her for being there for him. Writing it down on a dry erase board or a peace of paper wasn't good enough for him.

While Mike was buried in thoughts, he wasn't aware that there was someone else that was awake. The figure walked up near Mike, only to see that he was spaced out.

"How are you feeling this morning?" The voice said, snapping the green ranger from his thought.

Mike turned around only to see Jayden behind him. Mike wrote something down on his board.

"_Doing fine for the moment." _Mike wrote. He then erased what he wrote to write another message. "_Considering that I still have a mark on my throat."_

"Is that why you're wearing the turtle neck?" Jayden asked.

Mike nodded. "_I hate it."_

"Then why wear it?"

He erased what he previously wrote to put down something else on the board. _"Because I don't need to be reminded of last night."_

Jayden sat down across from Mike; his concern for his friend grew. Ever since he lost his voice, Mike's up beat personality and zest for life went from positive to negative. He has tried to be a strong person for everyone, including Emily. Being okay last night and part of this morning, he thought that he was confident that he could find a way to defeat the nighlock. Now a dark aura of sadness can be felt within the entire room. His confidence was shot down in a blink of an eye. Jayden didn't know why he was like this.

"I understand." Jayden replied as Mike wrote down something, not on his board, but on a piece of paper.

The erase board wasn't that big, he wanted to write down how he was really feeling so his friend can fully understand what was going on in his head.

"_I was coping well last night, knowing that I have the confidence that we can defeat the nighlock. This morning as I was walking to grab something, I walked inside Emily's room, just to see if she was okay. Then I noticed that she cried herself to sleep. She was very strong for me last night. I could feel that she was angry at the fact that the nighlock took my voice, but I guess the other thing that she was feeling was the loss of hope that I can speak again. She didn't show it in front of me. Because of that, I feel that we won't be able to get him out of the nether world."_

"We'll find a way to defeat this nighlock. He won't get away with stealing voices for very long." Jayden said after reading the long note.

Mike only nodded, hoping that Jayden was right.

-Unspoken Dreams-

Emily woke up, only to be greeted by a wet pillow. She remembered crying herself to sleep last night and her reasons why. Her emotions can be bottled up for so long until she couldn't hold it in anymore. She wanted to be strong for Mike so she put her own emotions aside to help the man she loves. It was too much for her to process everything that happened the previous day.

From what Mike told her about his dream, to actually have it happen in real life and the after math. It was just too much; Emily could only imagine what he's going through. That worried her, worried her a lot. All he can do right now is to write down things on his dry erase board, not knowing if he's frustrated, lost, or angry.

She knew that he wasn't the kind of guy to express his emotions. Mike would tell his friends that he was okay until someone asked him again. The only real person that he would express his emotions was Emily; he trusts her with all of his heart. He knows that he can tell her anything and show his emotions without her judging him.

But last night was different. He wasn't acting like himself, she was wondering if it was part of the nighlock spell of some sorts. She remembered Mike saying that he had a gut feeling that something was missing. Was this it? Was messing with ones emotions part of the nighlock's plan?

No. It couldn't be. But she couldn't shake off this gut feeling.

She moved her body a little bit off her bed and removed the archive book from under her pillow. If she was going to save Mike and the other people who had been affected by this nighlock, she was going to figure out how to do it.


	7. A Friends Encouragement

Emily read the archive about the voice stealing nighlock, but found nothing that could help her. It only told her things that she already knew, but nothing about how to defeat it. Her heart sank; she was devastated. In frustration, she threw the book across the room, not aware that someone was nearby.

She was silent as there was a knock at the bedroom door.

"Come in." Emily said.

The door opened and Mia walked inside, seeing that Emily was frustrated and the book of archives on the floor. She bent down to pick it up and shook her head.

"You know, mentor will be mad if this book gets damaged." Mia said.

Emily said nothing, only to lower her head in sadness. She didn't want to see her best friend to witness her about to cry. With her doing this, it only grew more concern.

Mia sat down next to Emily on the bed when she saw this. "Are you okay? You can talk to me about it."

"I'm fine." Emily muttered quietly.

Mia knew that this was a lie; she wasn't okay. Hiding in her room, reading the archives and throwing it out of frustration and now hiding her emotions; this was not the Emily she knew.

"You're not okay." Mia finally said, placing an arm around her shoulder. "I know you. It's not like you to hide your emotions like this. You can come to me for anything, you know that. I want to help you figure out a way to help Mike, but I can't help if you keep hiding how you really feel."

Not even a moment later, Emily looked up to her friend, with fresh tears running down her cheeks.

"You're right! I'm not okay! I can't find a way to help Mike! I looked through the archives and found nothing; just the things that I already know. I feel helpless that he has to write on a dry erase board, to have that green thing on his throat, and not knowing how he feels about this!" She cried. "I want to help him. I want to help him so bad! But I just feel like that there is nothing that I can do!"

Mia pulled Emily close to her so she can bury her head on her shoulder as she silently cried. She gently rubbed Emily's back. She then pulled pushed her away so she can look in her best friend's eyes.

"You're not helpless, Emily. You were just being strong for Mike. There is a way to defeat the nighlock and get his and the other people's voice back. The book isn't going to help us, we know that. But I know that with every nighlock we face, there is a way to defeat them. It isn't easy, but we get the job done. You just got to have faith and the confidence to help him." Mia said. "We'll find a way to defeat the nighlock before it's too late."

"I hope so." Emily replied. "I just miss him."

-Unspoken Dreams-

Not knowing how training was going to affect Mike, he was told to sit out. He couldn't help but watch the others train to hopefully defeat the nighlock. Not soon after, he watched the girls come out to join the guys. Emily stopped and turned to see Mike and offered him a smile. He smiled back and he watched her train. With nothing to do, he drew on his erase board, random things, but all he wrote was "I am bored" over and over again. Because he was indeed bored; but from time to time, he would look up to check up on his friends as they either practicing sword play or practicing symbols, or hand to hand combat.

But one thing came into his mind, he forgot his mission: to read the archives to see what was there to help him and his team. So he excused himself and went inside to find the book. To his surprise, it wasn't where it was supposed to be. So he looked everywhere for it, only to find it in Emily's room. Once he got the book, he went into the living room to read it. He found the chapter about the voice stealing nighlock and read the chapter from there.

Mike read the history, what the nighlock looked like, what its purpose was. But couldn't find anything as to how to defeat it; this frustrated him as it did Emily. He just slammed the book down on the table in anger. The feeling of helplessness rushed through him, breaking him down emotionally.

-Unspoken Dreams-

Kevin was worried about his best friend. He knew that he was suffering in silence; with no voice to express himself, all Mike was was silent. The dry erase board could only help him so much until he is able to really express how he felt. Emily feeling helpless had an effect on almost everyone. From what he was told, she was able to talk to Mia about everything.

He wanted to be sure. After practice, he walked inside, only to see Mike hiding in his shirt.

"Hiding in your turtle neck shirt is only going to stretch out the fabric more." Kevin said, hopefully to get Mike's face out of it.

Mike looked up at his friend and wrote something in his board. "_I'm aware of that." _Mike wrote as he a smile crept his face.

Kevin sat down next to him. "Are you okay?"

Mike then erased what he previously wrote to write again. It took a few moments, and then he showed it to his friend. _"Is okay not finding a way to defeat a voice stealing nighlock?" _Mike wrote, hoping that Kevin can sense a hint of sarcasm in his answer.

"I guess not." Kevin replied, getting Mike's sarcasm.

Grabbing a sheet of paper and a pen, Mike wrote something else. It took a few minutes to think of what he wanted to say.

"_I'm trying to stay positive. I've been reading the archives about this nighlock and found nothing. Unless someone dreams up a way to defeat this guy, we're screwed. I just don't like dragging everyone through my problems. I've put Emily through a lot in a short time frame; I just don't want to have her go through this alone." _

"She won't have to. We'll find a way to defeat this guy." Kevin replied.

Mike looked up to his friend and smiled, as if he knew that Kevin was right. Hope is the only thing that he's clinging onto at this time. Silence filled the air for a while until the others came back from training to check up on both boys.

"Mike?" Emily asked.

This made him look up at his girlfriend, with a smile on her face as well. He stood up and gave her a hug, not before she took his face and gave him a kiss. The others left them alone by getting out of their training outfits and figure out a way to defeat the nighlock.

A moment later, the kiss was broke free and Mike was also greeted by a hug and the four words that came out of her mouth.

"I love you, Mike." She said.

He looked down at Emily and gave her another kiss, letting her know that he loved her too and when this nighlock is defeated, he'll tell her how much he loves her.


	8. Linked

**_A/N: I would've updated sooner, but I was dealing with an appendicitis and had to have surgery to have it removed. But I'm feeling a lot better now! _**

**_I'm not too sure how this chapter is going to turn out as it only has a lot of description and not a lot of dialogue. But rest assured, that there's going to be a lot going on in the next few chapters. Hopefully those few chapters and the epilouge, the story will end._**

**_Another note: There is another dream in this fic, hence the italics. Same with Mike's writing, also in italics. Hope this doesn't confuse you. _**

* * *

><p>The rest of the day was rather quiet.<p>

It only consisted on how they plan to get the nighlock out of the nether world so Mike and the others who were affected by this can get their voices back. The archive wasn't too much of a help, it provided them nothing that would be of resource.

Waiting it out wasn't an option, knowing that the nighlock won't go appear on its own. They knew that with the stolen voices, he was stronger and wasn't going to let go for any rangers for any reason. The team had to figure out how to lure him out. Nothing that they came up with would be good enough. It was like pulling teeth; the nighlock was that stubborn.

They came out empty at the end of the day. There was no plan, no way of luring the nighlock.

It was frustrating for everyone, not only because of that; it was the fact that they only had less than 24 hours to defeat the nighlock. Mike needed to figure out something. He didn't want to be mute forever; he could tell the others were missing him talking to them and his personality. Everyone noticed that he wasn't himself at all after his voice was stolen. Not only was his voice taken away, so was his confidence and his funny personality. Mike didn't play any pranks or not making any effort to play his video games or filling his face with food.

He was determined to figure out how to defeat this nighlock and that was all he was focused on. After his talk with Kevin and the moment that he had with Emily made him want this all done and over with. Even if it meant staying up all night, his determination wasn't going to stop him.

Mike tried to look through the archive again and again to see if he had missed something. He also tried to see if there were other books that he can see if there was something that the archives missing; but he found nothing. Frustrated that his mind went blank and couldn't think of anything, Mike put the book down and lay back down on his bed to think. After what felt like hours, his eyes began to get heavy and soon drifted off to sleep.

-Unspoken Dreams-

Keeping herself distracted, Emily was listening to some music, singing a part of a lyric every once in a while. This is something that the team, even Mike didn't know about, she had a wonderful voice. She was good with the flute, but kept her other talent a secret in order to prevent any embarrassment.

At the same time, she was thinking about the recent events this morning. Emily told Mike that she loved him and he couldn't say it back. His eyes said so much but she wanted to hear it from him. She missed him very bad, even though he was right there with her, with her in his arms, silently giving her positive energy though his smile; it was his voice that she was missing the most.

Now she wasn't interested in listening to music anymore. Emily placed her music player down on her dresser and just lay down on the bed. Her mind went blank; nothing seems to be helping to drown out the events.

She was also determined to get everyone's voice back; she wasn't going to rest either. Both Mike and Emily wanted the nighlock gone, not only for Mike's sake but the ones that were affected by the voice stealing monster. She couldn't imagine what the families of those affected are going through, she could only think of sadness and the loss of hope that their loved ones are never going to speak again. That gave them more determined to bring this nighlock to an end.

All of her thinking was wearing her out as well as her eyes were getting heavy and slowly, she too drifted off to sleep.

-Unspoken Dreams-

_The team was looking at the wall to where the nighlock took his leave for the gap, trying to figure out how to get him out. Again after thinking of scenario after scenario, they took a break… except for Mike and Emily. While they were thinking, Emily took out her music player and sang a song that she dedicated to Mike. He was listening to Emily in awe, as her voice was being carried into the air as every note was hit perfectly. All a while he was listening to her, they weren't aware that the nighlock was coming towards them from the gap. _

"_Emily, keep singing!" Mike exclaimed, "It's drawing the nighlock out!"_

_And that's what Emily did. She kept on singing the same song until the nighlock was completely out of the gap. After the nighlock was out, she stopped singing and turned off her music player. The rest of the team was gathered around the two as they faced the nighlock together. _

Emily's eyes popped open as she woke up. It was all a dream; she had to stop and think for a moment or two before turning over to look at the music player that was lying on her lamp table. How was her music player, her voice and her dream linked? Was it just a dream or some kind of way to get the nighlock out from the nether world?

Her mind kept on thinking as she got up from her bed and walked over to Mike's room to gently open the door. She saw him awake as well, reading the archive book again, only to read a different page in it, a page that they apparently over looked.

"Mike?" She whispered, grasping his attention.

He looked up to her and motioned her over to his bed to have her look at the archives.

"I had the strangest dream just now."

Mike looked in her eyes and for that moment, he thought about something. He gave Emily the book to read where he was looking at and took out a pen and paper and wrote something down. She wasn't interested in the book, she was interested on what he was writing down and as he was, she had a gut feeling about what he wrote. That made her nervous.

Mike then gave her the paper. She read it carefully; her eyes widened while she read the note.

"_If your dream was about you singing to get the nighlock out of the gap, I had the same dream." _Mike wrote.

"That means our dreams were linked." Emily replied.

Mike only nodded as he took her hand.


End file.
